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Hello, there.
I have to confess something. Summertime usually makes me feel like reading light books. Nothing too strenuous, just fun.
One good example is the book I just finished: Danse Macabre.
So what's "Danse Macabre?" It's a musical piece written by a composer named Saint-Saƫns.
It's usually associated with scary movies and Halloween. It's pretty spooky!
It's relevant to the book because the story's about violinists. The main character is an older blind musician who teaches for a living.
His friend is suddenly murdered, and another violinist did it. Or did he?
He's still charged, found guilty, and sentenced to die. But at the last minute -- literally a week before the execution --
the blind violinist is asked to investigate. Though at first dubious, he agrees, and commences asking around.
As he's led deeper and deeper, the story grows more and more interesting. It's a classic mystery, and a little bit of a thriller too.
You also learn a lot about classical music, although the violin is a unique microcosm of the music world in general.
You learn about the instruments, their part in world history, and their value. It's an interesting little world of its own.
I was actually amused, though, because many of the musicians in the book had distinct types of personalities.
It was funny to me, because my mother has played the violin for 40 years, and some of the characters reminded me of her musician friends.
It really took me back! They're all really interesting people.
I enjoyed the book itself; it's a good, well-paced read.
Funnily enough, it's the kind of book I'd call an "old-person book" -- it's the kind of thing you see older folks reading.
Now, I'm not going to tell you what I mean by "old," but you tend to see them in the public library, collecting Danielle Steele books.
But this book was good and I liked it quite a bit. If you're looking for something easy to get into, I do suggest this one.
Incidentally, I think that for the rest of the summer, I'm going to stick to books like this one. No heavy social issues or anything like that.
We'll save it for the fall. For these few months, I'm going to take it easy and just have fun!
That about wraps it up. Thank you!